SPOILER ALERT: This blog is for people watching Forbrydelsen III (The Killing III) on BBC4. Do not read on if you haven't seen episodes seven and eight – and please do not post spoilers if you've seen further into the series.

Good evening and welcome to the blog. With just one week still to go, it feels as if the pieces of the puzzle are beginning to fit into place, although I'm not discounting for one second that we're all currently looking in completely the wrong direction. While Lund is apparently currently in the company of both Emilie's kidnapper and Louise's possible murderer, with two hours of drama still to come there are presumably surprises in store.

We're also yet to see how the politicians are folded into all the other elements of the story. To date we seem to have had plenty of allegations that have ended up being dead ends – although I imagine Karen's involvement with Zeeland will come into play.

Continuing the theme of last week, these two episodes focused strongly on family and kids. The Zeuthens pulled back together by both Emilie's disappearance and the knowledge that their arguing allowed the kidnapper to find a way between them and their children. Lund and her determination that Borch preserve his family: "Don't mess it up." The dynamic between Kristian and Stoffer as the latter tried to protect his brother over son Benjamin.

And then the families splintered apart: Monika Jelby trying to do the best by her daughter as she was dying, and Louise's father now trying to avenge her death. Lund reflecting on her own abilities as a single mum. Eva, facing birth alone with a changeable mother-in-law and an absent partner, both emotionally ill-equipped to deal with the impending arrival.

The investigation: what do we know?

• Emilie Zeuthen was not shot by the kidnapper in the boat. Rather, it is suspected she was put in a container on a boat and shipped out of Denmark.

• According to DNA tests on his blood, the kidnapper is likely Louise Jelby's biological father.

• He did not visit Monika and Louise Jelby until after Monika died and Louise went to a children's home.

• Louise was sent to a home run by the Zeeland Children's Trust – which is chaired by Niels Reinhardt, who can be seen with Louise in a picture on his desk.

• Of the 13 numberplates recorded, one belonged to Ussing, who has an alibi for the time of Louise Jelby's murder: he was at a casino with one of his staff members.

• Another belonged to the prime minister's car. Stoffer eventually reveals it was being driven by Benjamin, the prime minister's son, who was 17 at the time. But GPS records reveal the car did not go near the crime scenes.

• Reinhardt's car was also there: the numberplate had been recorded incorrectly in the notebook kept by the garage owners' son. He had written "z" as "s".

• The kidnapper has also realised this mixup, and Reinhardt's burglar alarm has just gone off …

• The perpetrator linked the numberplate to Reinhardt (I presume) by accessing the Zeeland computer system while posing as a Swedish sailor with potential information on Emilie.

• He had previously managed to get to the prime minister's servers by nicking an ID and uniform from a photocopier-repair firm.

• Lund thinks he is probably an engineer – someone with good computer/technical skills, at any rate – who left the company two-and-a-half years ago following his daughter's death.

• His base in the harbour has now been discovered.

• He looks "ordinary". He had dark hair and wore glasses when he visited Zeeland. He is apparently still bleeding after Lund shot him in Jutland, and walks with a limp.

The police

"Rein in Sarah Lund. She can make the coffee while I clear up after you." Poor Brix. Ruth Hedeby looks furious – as she often does – and she's going to make Lennart and Lund pay. Not that the pair are under any illusions about that: if you wrongly accuse the prime minister's dead son of murder then you're hardly going to be first in line for promotion. But it was interesting to see the pair working side-by-side against the PET and forces from above as they tried to sidestep politics (in many senses) and find Louise Jelby's killer. Partly that's about ensuring Emilie's safety, but given that they know the kidnapper doesn't still have her, it feels also that for Lund at least, it's a question of justice.

And it's unsuprising that Lund should want to focus on the job in hand, given the many surrounding problems she'd rather not discuss. The biggest of these is Borch, who is not – as I wrongly floated in last week's blog, apols – Mark's father, but the man she realised was the one for her only when it was too late. Now she's struggling with a whole other set of emotions: is Borch really trustworthy? How could she be responsible for splitting up his family? The scene when his wife questioned Lund was interesting for its lack of answers – not least the Do You Love Him? query – although it seems Lund has decided she will sacrifice her (their?) own happiness for the sake of his wife and girls. Borch himself, meanwhile, seems to be desperately regretting misleading Sarah, but I remain slightly suspicious.

The politicians

So it appears that Karen, apparently super-loyal and in love with Kamper, does have some things she keeps from him – not least that she's been having secret, undeclared meetings with Zeeland, presumably to ensure their business interests are represented at the highest level. Benjamin, the prime minister's son who killed himself after the last election aged 17 – "Keep up to date!" as Brix would say to those lagging behind – apparently saw this happen, and got very cross about government being in league with business. Or the "usual leftist nonsense."

Once more the politics covered a lot of ground, without revealing a great deal about the characters involved: Rosa Lebech, for instance, presumably out of the picture now Kamper has declared her support unnecessary, has never been drawn as more than a love interest for the prime minister. Meanwhile the finance minister – bossy, power-crazy, oddly fond of port – has been fired, and Mogen has redeemed himself by supporting Kamper in his hour of need.

I'm not sure we have entirely got to the bottom of what was going on with Benjamin and Stoffer, and why the advisor was so keen to hide everything from his brother at this point. I can imagine why he might have wanted to keep things quiet till after the election last time around, and that he wanted to protect Kamper from the police raking over Benjamin's final months, but stealing a file needed in a murder and kidnap case? And why did Benjamin claim that he'd done something his dad could never forgive him for?

Other loose ends still dangling include why Ussing was pressuring Schultz over Louise Jelby if he wasn't involved in her murder, and they payment of the deputy public prosecutor's debts suddenly lobbed into questioning by Borch and then abandoned.

The family

After agonising days of sparring, Maja and Robert have finally united in their efforts to find Emilie, with Maja returning "to the guest room" with Carl. I'm not quite sure what I think of the speed of all this – while we have seen it over weeks, the action has played out over days – but it's quite an interesting turn for the plot in that some good could arguably have come from such evil. And a good that Emilie and Carl would particularly want to see. Although I'm not at all sure whether such a reconciliation is a good idea long term. As Maja's poor boyfriend observes: "Robert is the same man". Perhaps. But he will surely also be changed by this.

Notes and observations

• It seems remarkably odd that a small, depressed town in Jutland would have played host to Ussing's campaign car, the prime minister's campaign car, and the PM's state car within such a short space of time.

• I liked the ambiguity that's been created around Zeeland. It's not just a large evil corporation cutting jobs to maintain profit (although it's that too), but it also has a charitable fund and a determination to stay in Denmark.

• What exactly is Borch made of? He fell off a roof, was hit repeatedly with some kind of implement, and then was kicked in the stomach many times. The only damage? A few scabs and an arm that seemed to have healed not long after.

• "How the hell did he get away?" Well quite. A limping, shot kidnapper has escaped from Lund and Borch twice now. (Three times if you count the pathology lab). Which is convenient dramatically, but doesn't make a great deal of sense.

• My favourite translation of the night: "Don't get all huffy with me".

• There were a satisfying number of Kompuder!s in tonight's show, for those who like to pretend they can speak excellent Danish.

• Loved Eve trying to resurrect Lund's plants by insisting on candlelight and no radiators. They've been a clever way of showing us Lund's emotional decline this series.

• Twice Lund disappeared down spiral staircases in the dark, after a man who almost kicked Borch to death. The lights, Lund! The lights!

• I loved Lund in the meeting with Borch, Brix and shadowy bossy-boots from PET. She totally ruled. If every meeting was run by Lund, we'd all save hours and hours.

• Borch is looking almost ludicrously more haggard every time we see him. Waiting about outside Lund's house to give her a file he seemed to have aged about 10 years.

• I'm not sure whether Benjamin can be entirely ruled out. Why did Borch say to ignore the GPS?

• Last week's blog: "Rheinhardt, who now looks a great deal less guilty." Ah.

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